Thursday, July 26, 2007

Camping at Beaver Creek Valley State Park

Paul and I got away camping on Sunday, after dropping the Girl of the House at camp. She had a soccer game in the late afternoon, then we ran home, jumped in the truck and headed to camp. Dropped her about 7:30, visited with Ben for a bit (yup, this is the camp he works at), and headed out. It was about a two hour drive to the campground, Beaver Creek Valley State Park, complicated by driving through a heavy thunderstorm. We came in about 10 p.m., in the rain.

Woke Monday morning to a beautiful clear day.Beaver Creek Valley is set in a narrow valley, carved out by a clear troutstream, amid the blufflands of southern Minnesota. The temps are usually 5 to 10 degrees cooler down in the valley in the shade.

We headed out for our morning coffee - we like to have it in a scenic spot when we're camping. This is the spring that the troutstream emerges from. We sat, sipped, and talked.

We did some hiking while we were there. There are challenging trails on the hillsides, and level trails along the stream.

It was extraordinarily quiet. We were one of only three campsites that were occupied.

Chip likes hiking, and we discovered that Chip LOVES water. There are many stream crossings on the one trail, and he got right down in the water and did a little dance. Now, while I think Chip is pretty darn cute when he's dry, he has GOT to be one of the homeliest looking wet dogs I have ever seen!

Mostly, we sat in the shade with a cool beverage, reading. I finished the new Harry Potter book. Paul is working on the entire Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. (The books that the movie "Master and Commander" was based on.)

We relaxed, ate well, and returned on Tuesday evening refreshed.

I brought knitting and spinning, but only worked on my latest sock in the truck on the way to and from the campground. Regia mini ringel, for Paul.